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Political fallout for Christie

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Story highlights

Christie's Republican political allies may have created traffic mayhem to spite a Democrat

A group of citizens has filed a class-action lawsuit against Christie

Analyst: There may have been a crime, as a woman died amid the chaos

This may turn into much more than just a political scandal.

It may have seemed like a teenage prank at the time, but the blockage of bridge traffic as a possible act of partisan political revenge has put New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the middle of a serious legal stew.

State lawmakers questioned one of Christie's allies Thursday, a former state official implicated in the scandal. So far, David Wildstein has repeatedly refused to answer, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The legislators charged him with contempt for his lack of cooperation. But the dam could eventually break as lawmakers dig in their heels, analysts say.

Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was not indicted as part of the Bridgegate scandal. But one of his appointees pled guilty and 2 former staffers face criminal charges.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – David Wildstein, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud on federally funded property and one civil rights violation.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Bridget Anne Kelly, Gov. Chris Christie deputy chief of staff, was fired when her e-mail about it being time for "traffic in Fort Lee" became the center of the scandal. She has been charged with nine criminal counts, including conspiracy and fraud.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Bill Baroni was executive deputy director of the Port Authority until he resigned amid the scandal in December 2014. He has been charged them with nine criminal counts, including conspiracy and fraud.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer claims New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno approached her in a parking lot last May and told her that Sandy recovery aid for her town depended on her support of a redevelopment project backed by the governor.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in the Christie controversies – Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno denies telling Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that her town's Superstorm Sandy relief money depended on her support for a redevelopment project proposed by a company with ties to Gov. Chris Christie that he had backed.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in the Christie controversies – Maria Comella, a deputy chief of staff in Christie's office, had been monitoring the media reaction weeks after the George Washington Bridge traffic fiasco. She has been subpoenaed as part of the state legislative investigation.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie controversies – Randy Mastro, a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former deputy mayor of New York, will head the legal team representing the Christie administration in various investigations relating to the George Washington Bridge political scandal. He once a the federal racketeering lawsuit that forced the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to hold democratic elections and undergo court supervision.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Reid Schar, a key figure in the federal prosecution of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will assist the special state Assembly committee investigating the bridge scandal that has engulfed current and former aides of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, a Democrat, said he was concerned about the bidding process for using $25 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for a marketing campaign to promote tourism at the Jersey Shore.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – E-mails suggest that Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was the apparent target of an alleged political payback scheme involving traffic jams around the George Washington Bridge. He met with Chris Christie in early January to discuss the matter, and said the governor was "gracious and apologetic."

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski is chairman of the special state Assembly committee investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal. The panel has subpoenaed current and former top Christie aides as well members of his political organization, seeking documents and other materials. Chris Christie has not been subpoenaed but his office has.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Michael Drewniak, Christie's chief spokesman, has been subpoenaed by a special state Assembly committee investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal. It is seeking documents and other materials. Although there is nothing to suggest Drewniak was involved in the scandal, e-mails released by investigators show he met with a key figure, David Wildstein, two days before Wildstein resigned from his job as a top Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – David Samson, Port Authority chairman, said its board had no knowledge of the George Washington Bridge traffic jam mess until five days after the fact. He has been subpoenaed by the state assembly committee and is also a partner and founding member of Wolff & Samson, the law firm that represented the Rockefeller Group in the Hoboken redevelopment plan.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority, said access lane closures that resulted in the George Washington Bridge traffic mess didn't follow proper agency protocols. He ordered the lanes reopened and has been subpoenaed by the state Assembly committee as part of its investigation into the bridge scandal.

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Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat who also didn't endorse Christie, has raised his own suspicions about his cooled relationship with the administration.

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Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat, has been pressing for information about the scandal.

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Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Democrat Barbara Buono is a New Jersey state senator who challenged Chris Christie this past November and lost in a landslide. She derided Christie during the campaign as representing "the worst combination of bully and bossism," and she brought up the George Washington Bridge traffic mess as an example.

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Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Bill Stepien managed Chris Christie's two successful campaigns for govenor. E-mails suggest he was aware of the bridge lane closures, and Christie has asked him to give up his political role. He, too, has been subpoenaed by the state committee investigating the matter.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – Scott Rechler, vice chairman of the Port Authority's board of commissioners, e-mailed other representatives of the agency saying he was disturbed that traffic was snarled "without regard to this being the Jewish high holiday weekend" last September. Rechler was appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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Photos:Who's who in Christie bridge scandal

Who's who in Christie bridge scandal – E-mails suggest Regina Egea, then a senior staffer and the governor's point person to the Port Authority and other agencies, was aware of concerns the George Washington Bridge lane closures were not part of an ongoing traffic study as the Christie administration initially claimed. She's now Christie's incoming chief of staff and has also been subpoenaed by the state Assembly committee.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Aides and appointees of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been accused of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, pictured, for not endorsing Christie for re-election. If true, this wouldn't be the first time an American politician was targeted with dirty tricks -- the practice goes back as far as running for office. Click through to see other examples of less-than-ethical campaign tactics.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Prostitution allegations: Sen. Robert Menendez of New York denied that he paid a woman for sex, saying allegations that he did were part of a smear campaign. "Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically motivated right-wing blog and are false," Menendez's office said in a statement. The alleged prostitute later filed a notarized statement saying she had never even met Menendez.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Fake letters: Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine, running for president, was expected to do well in the 1972 Democratic primary in neighboring New Hampshire. But the Manchester Union-Leader published a letter alleging that Muskie condoned the use of the term "Canuck," a derogatory term used against French-Canadians. Muskie denied the charge but still suffered at the polls in the early primary, which doomed his chances. The Washington Post later reported that the letter was a hoax and was probably written by Ken Clawson, deputy White House communications director in the Nixon administration.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Watergate: The break-in at the Watergate office complex was just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what was going on within President Nixon's re-election campaign in 1972. The Nixon machine was hell-bent on destroying its opponents, and Donald Segretti, pictured, was one of the primary dirty tricksters. The Nixon operative printed fliers that attacked Muskie on his stance against Israel, and he placed them outside synagogues. He also pitted Democrats against one another in a tactic he called "rat-f---ing," like the letter addressed from Citizens for Muskie that accused Democratic primary rival Sen. Henry Jackson of being a homosexual and fathering an illegitimate child with a teenager. Segretti was one of several Nixon operatives who ended up in jail.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Doctored photos?: Ross Perot was the first major third-person candidate in modern American politics to mount a serious run for the White House. His plainspokenness got attention, and his platform appealed to the far right. Most of all, he was seen as a threat to split the Republican vote with President George H.W. Bush, who was running for his second term. Despite the energy in his campaign, Perot dropped out of the race, claiming that Republican operatives were about to smear his daughter with doctored photos and try to ruin her wedding. Perot never explained what the photograph purportedly showed.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – The mystery of Alvin Greene: When Alvin Greene suddenly won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, experts asked, "Who?" Greene didn't campaign, had no political experience and was rarely seen in public. A CNN interview led to more questions of whether Greene, pictured, was intellectually capable of running a viable campaign. Others felt that Greene was planted by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who was running for re-election. Greene was cleared by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division before he lost overwhelmingly to DeMint.

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Photos:Political dirty tricks

Political dirty tricks – Swift-boating: Before John Kerry, far right, was elected senator, he won the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam and later protested against the war. When he ran for president in 2004, he spoke out against the Iraq War. Although Kerry was seen as the underdog in the race, he was gaining momentum before a political ad released by the group known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth accused Kerry of speaking ill of his fellow veterans and lying to get his medals. Kerry first tried to ignore the ads before denying the allegations, but by then the ads -- and Kerry's avoiding them -- stopped whatever momentum was building.

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Photos:Quotes from Christie apology

Photos:Quotes from Christie apology

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Christie: I fired Kelly because she lied

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Christie: I fired Kelly because she lied02:12

As long as Christie was telling the truth at a marathon news conference he held Thursday -- that is, if he really didn't know anything about any wrongdoing -- he should be able to step out of the caldron, analysts who spoke with CNN say.

For nearly two hours, the high-profile governor, who gained national recognition for his response to Superstorm Sandy, answered questions from journalists, divulging many details.

"He was pretty specific about what he knew and when he knew it," said CNN analyst Gloria Borger on "The Lead with Jake Tapper."

But if any of it doesn't jibe with other people's stories, information provided in documents or clues that pop up, experts say Christie could get dragged into civil and criminal lawsuits.

One thing is certain. The legislative inquiry into the alleged misdeeds that led to the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge is just getting into gear.

What happened to begin with?

It was September, and Christie was full steam into his re-election bid -- which he won two months later. Wildstein, whom Christie appointed to a high position at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ordered the closing of two of the three lanes of traffic leading to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee. It held up motorists trying to make it into Manhattan and caused days of massive traffic jams in Fort Lee, where Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich had not endorsed Christie for re-election.

Democrats speculated that the mayhem was political retaliation against Sokolich. Hearings ensued, and Wildstein resigned under pressure. Then came Wednesday's revelation that a top Christie aide, Bridget Anne Kelly had e-mailed Wildstein before the closures, telling him, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." "Got it," Wildstein replied. He e-mailed a comment that the parents of children stuck in school buses in the traffic jams were Democratic voters.

Christie fired Kelly after the scandal broke.

Possible prank, sure, but something to sue over?

This was no fun and games for people who sat tormented for hours in traffic and missed important appointments, legal analyst Alan Dershowitz told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.

It did real damage.

"It was utter chaos those days. People were pouring into the store, complaining," Debbie Minuto recalled Thursday in her shop, Binghamton Bagel Cafe, in the town of Fort Lee. "The bridge is a lifeline here. You take away the bridge, you take away our livelihood."

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Can Christie survive the bridge scandal?

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Can Christie survive the bridge scandal?04:35

"The law looks backwards and says: What causes these harms?" he said.

One group of residents from Bergen County, where Fort Lee is located, has already filed a class-action civil lawsuit against Christie. They want to be compensated for alleged wages lost when they arrived late at work.

Was a crime committed?

A woman died at the time of the mayhem, and emergency workers trying to get to her to save her complained that the traffic jams slowed them down.

Sokolich thinks there should be a criminal investigation into the incident, saying it put "folks in absolute danger."

His Democratic colleague, New Jersey state Sen. Ray Lesniak, agrees but takes it a step further. He called for federal prosecutors to open an investigation into whether the lane closures were a factor in the woman's death.

"Endangering people's lives -- that's not politics. That's why the U.S. attorneys have to get involved," he said.

She was 91 when she went into cardiac arrest, and her daughter Vilma Oleri told CNN affiliate WABC that she didn't think the traffic was to blame.

"I really don't think so, no, I really don't. I think she was 91 and really believe in my heart that she was already gone when the ambulance got (to her house)," she said.

But Genova was not alone. No other deaths were reported.But paramedics red-flagged "unnecessary delays for emergency services" to the mayor on the second day of the lane closures.

The traffic increased their reaction time in at least four cases.

Legal analyst Dershowitz thinks a crime may have indeed been committed and prosecutors could land convictions against Wildstein, Kelly and anyone else implicated, "particularly if they can demonstrate if the woman died as a result of the traffic jam."

Christie says he didn't know anything about this. How could this get him?

If Christie's close associates are prosecuted or convicted, it could lead them to turn on Christie, Dershowitz said.

Thursday's news conference was the longest and most candid in Christie's career, Matt Katz, a New Jersey public radio reporter, told Jake Tapper.

"This is absolutely extraordinary," he said. Christie offered a lot of information to back up his claim that he knew nothing.

At the same time, he may have given Wildstein and Kelly a lot to contradict, should they open up to lawmakers questioning them.

"They may very well want to save themselves and say, 'Wait a minute; don't believe what the governor said,' " Dershowitz told Baldwin.

Wildstein may have pleaded the Fifth initially, but that's normal in the beginning, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Defense lawyers often start by telling their clients to take the Fifth.

"You don't want your client testifying until he has seen all the documents available."

But things could change. If lawmakers decide to go after Christie, they could offer Wildstein -- or Kelly, if they question her -- immunity.

They could decide to save themselves at his expense, Toobin said.

Anyone Christie fired may also try to get revenge.

And if Christie really didn't know about alleged misdeeds, he could still be in hot water, Dershowitz said.

"There's a concept in law called willful blindness," he said. It's enough to just suggest to people working for him to commit illegal actions on his behalf or to create an atmosphere that promotes such actions.

Dershowitz said that it would be enough for the governor to say: "Don't tell me; I don't want to know; just do what you have to do to take revenge. I don't want to know the details."